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ok, maybe clueless. I did marked the partition with windows "active" and ran "Repair my computer"
It found a something to repair. I selected "repair and restart"
it restarted and I got the black screen that I am getting getting all to familiar with. It said something like:
Press any key to boot from CD/DVD.
when I didn't, it said: Error booting operating system
Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart
(this isn't verbatim because I don't remember perfectly)

Does this mean that it didn't repair? I'm currently rerunning "Startup repair"
Also, this time after hitting "Repair My Computer" it had (recovered) listed instead of "Windows 7" like before... am I on the right track?

Boot into the DVD, on second screen select "Repair My Computer," see if it offers a repair. If it does, accept it and allow to restart. If it doesn't start, boot back into Repair console, see if it finds an installation to repair,

Sounds like you have an installation there to repair. It will run many tests and fixes on it to try to get it started. Only if it tells you flat out it cannot repair it would I quit before 3 repairs w/reboots.

Have you marked it Active using Diskpart or booted Partition Wizard CD to confirm it is marked Active?

Do you have files you need to rescue as you can do that if they are still intact using the DVD at any time:

I marked it active via command prompt. And I was under the assumption I couldn't retreive files because Microsoft phone guy told me to do certain command (not sure what they were for, I think he heard the desperation in my voice)
if I remember correctly it was: clean, format fs=ntfs
does that mean anything to anyone?

Again, question: Will I be asked to "hit any key to load CD/DVD" after each repair/restart? because I feel like I'm going in circles. If it's repairing, I'll keep doing it, but I was assuming the pc would take action on its own (which it doesn't at the beginning)

please don't laugh...

How About A LaughYou'll have to watch a commercial to get to the goodies.
Watch Ballmer promote Windows 1.0 in 1985 - Video - Technology

Chillout Room

Don't laugh at me please!Okay I know this is probably a stupid question but I have one HD in my machine that came with three partitions on it.
The first partition is some little tiny space that doesn't show up when you boot up but shows up on when you do the OS install called Recovery-OEM
The second is aprox 40GB...